UKIAH, Ca. 7/30/24 – A Fort Bragg man was found guilty with six felony counts of sexual misconduct after Mendocino County Superior Court jury deliberations last Wednesday.
The man was found guilty sexually assaulting multiple children between 2004 and 2020. He could go to prison for 25 years to life.
Here is the official announcement from the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office:
While the DA remains out of county conducting a separate jury trial in Marin County, a Mendocino County Superior Court jury returned from its deliberations this past Wednesday afternoon, July 24th, to announce it had found the trial defendant guilty of all six felony counts of sexual misconduct.
Defendant Tomas Yah Pool, age 56, of Fort Bragg, was found guilty of six separate felony counts of Lewd and Lascivious Acts upon a Child under the age of Fourteen Years.
The sexual misconduct addressed by these charges occurred between the years 2004 to 2020. The age of the separate victims ranged from 3 years of age to 6 years of age during the time period of their respective sexual abuse.
The jury also found true sentencing enhancements alleging that the defendant committed sexual crimes against more than one child victim; and that the defendant personally inflicted great bodily injury on a child victim under the age of 5 years.
The law enforcement agencies that investigated the case, interviewed the victims and witnesses, and diligently gathered the other evidence used at trial to convict the defendant were the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and the DA’s own in-house Bureau of Investigations.
Additional pretrial and trial support was provided by the advocates in the District Attorney’s Victim/Witness Unit, caring individuals who worked tirelessly to support the victims and their families over the three years it took to bring the case to it conclusion by means of Wednesday’s verdicts.
The prosecutor who organized and presented the People’s evidence at trial was Managing Deputy District Attorney Eloise Kelsey, Mendocino County’s senior coastal deputy prosecutor.
DDA Kelsey extends her heartfelt thank you to each victim and their families for not only the courage to see the lengthy case through, but to have the bravery to come forward in the first place. She hopes all involved will find some measure of closure — as well as solace — in knowing this predator will never again have the opportunity to prey on other child victims.
Additional special thanks are extended to expert witness, Dr. James Crawford-Jakubiak (the Medical Director of the Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland) for his medical expertise and testimony presented at trial; as well as to Clinical Psychologist Mindy Mechanic, who also testified as an expert witness at trial.
Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Victoria Shanahan presided over the three-week trial.
The defendant’s case has now been referred to the Mendocino County Adult Probation Department for a background study of the defendant and a written sentencing recommendation.
The defendant’s formal sentencing hearing has been calendared for August 30th at 9 o’clock in the morning in Department B in the Ukiah downtown courthouse.
Due to the nature of the convictions, defendant Pool faces potential sentencing of an indeterminate state prison commitment of 25 years to life. He may also be sentenced to a consecutive determinate state prison sentence of over 40 years.
Should defendant Pool ever be deemed eligible for release on parole down the road, he will be required to register as a sex offender annually for life with local law enforcement in any place he may be allowed to live.
However, should the Board of Parole Hearings ever deem defendant Pool eligible for parole consideration, he will also become eligible for civil commitment consideration (before parole may be granted) as a sexually violent predator (SVP).
California’s SVP statute is unique in that this law allows for an additional indeterminate civil psychiatric commitment of a sex offender after their state prison penal commitment has been served.